>> 29 Apr 2004

The Friday Essay.

JUDICIAL DREAD!

At a time when the global Jihadists have shown that they will strike without mercy and with no regard for the sanctity of human life, it is imperative that liberty loving nations stand together and ensure that the guilty terrorists are brought to justice. The Judiciary in each democratic country has a central function to play in this battle but recent developments in Europe are ominous.

In the past few days, the British Home Secretary, David Blunkett has described the decision by British judges to release an Algerian man with alleged links to al-Qu’eda as "extraordinary". The 35-year-old detainee, known only as "G", had been held at an English prison for more than two years but he has now been freed on mental health grounds. The Judges who made this bizarre decision accepted the argument that the Algerian man was potentially dangerous with worrying Al Qu’eda links. However, they argued that the man's mental deterioration made it less likely he would become involved in potentially dangerous activity.

Think about that for one moment; less likely? Surely any sensible person must reason that it makes it more likely for such a disturbed individual to become involved in terrorist activities. After all, if a man seeks to join the murdering hordes of Bin Laden whilst retaining a nominal level of sanity, what is he likely to do when the last vestiges of this disappears!

Here’s the good news. "G" will be kept under constant surveillance, can only receive Home Office-approved visitors and will not be allowed access to a telephone or the internet. Tough love indeed! I guess these Judges have never heard of Internet cafés!

Another British Al Qu’eda suspect - known as "M" - was also released a month ago when judges decided there was no irrefutable evidence that he was linked to terrorism. Speaking to the left wing BBC he said: "They (the police) did not question me once. If I am a suspect of terrorism, if they are thinking maybe I will do something against this government or this country, why didn't they come to me to ask me any questions?"

The Director of hard-left civil rights group Liberty, Shami Chakrabarti, said detaining people without trial showed the government had a "terrifying contempt for the rule of law" and was showing a "complete failure to observe the presumption of innocence". So in essence, it is only when a jetliner crashes into the Tower of London or a suit-case nuke detonates in the Royal Mall that our Judiciary and civil rights activists will waken up to the real and present danger staring us in the face.

Such outlandish judicial behaviour is not restricted to the United Kingdom. A German court has also recently released Mounir el-Motassadeq, the only man convicted in connection with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, pending a new trial later this year. The release of Motassadeq, who was serving a 15-year sentence on more than 3,000 counts of accessory to murder, followed a decision by a German appeals court last month to reverse his conviction. The court ruled that Mr. Motassadeq had been denied a fair trial because of the refusal of the United States to allow testimony by a captured terrorist suspect. Say again? Because the US won’t permit one terrorist to give evidence in support of another he gets out of jail? And this is European justice?

German prosecutors contended that Motassadeq was a key figure in the Al Qu’eda Hamburg cell, which included Mohamed Atta. In the months leading up to Sept. 11, Motassadeq helped to transfer funds into the accounts of the hijacker-pilots while they were preparing the plot. But while Motassadeq admitted that he once attended an Al Qu’eda training camp in Afghanistan, he has contended all along that he had no advance knowledge of the Sept. 11 plot, and that in carrying out the activities cited against him by the prosecution, he was merely doing favours for fellow Muslims. Poor lamb – he was only following orders! No wonder the Germans felt sympathy for him.

Each time an Al Qu’eda suspect is detected the European judiciary find ways to set him free. This is done with scant regard to the message this sends back to the terror warlords. Europe is seen as a useful carrier base from which Al Qu’eda and its affiliates can operate with relative impunity, from which they can plan attacks on the United States and its global interests and from which they can expect to obtain a sympathetic anti-US media hearing.

The failure of the European Judiciary to come to terms with the terrorist malignancy in our midst may yet carry lethal consequences. They too will have to be judged.

Here is an excellent article from Rachel Neuwirth on the subject of assassinating terrorist leaders, and Arafat in particular. When Simon Peres says that ''Whoever deals in murder will pay the price, and it will lead to his own death" - you KNOW that times they are-a-changing. Don't count on reaching retirement - Yassir.

The US is turning up the heat on the ragbag of Saddamites in Fallujah. I am delighted to see this approach as it is the only language these thugs and Jihadists understand. The whining of the likes of UN smoothie Lakhdar Brahimi over this rather validates the chosen action. I rather like David Warren's summary of the nest of vipers from which Brahimi hails,

"As we know from Rwanda, Bosnia, and a dozen other political settlements it has brokered, the U.N. is incapable of facilitating anything except the odd vast massacre. It is an organization corrupt to its core, without power except for what its members agree to provide for it, and therefore under the direction of a kind of rotating conspiracy of the world's most cynical and posturing politicians."

>> 28 Apr 2004

The stench of corruption, the scent of financial sleaze, that can only mean one thing..the United Nations. As the details of the massive OIL-FOR-FOOD scam seeps out (ignored by the liberal media) poor old Kofi is sounding kinda defensive. Don't say that this plaster Saint of the left is looking a bit tawdry....? Given that the scale of financial abuse dwarfs Enron, can we now expect to see this story gather momentum in the UK media? When hell freezes over.

Well, first we had the quagmire in Iraq, then we had the UK Diplomats for the second Holocaust, and just when you thought that things could get no worse...we hear that the SPICE GIRLS may be getting back!!! Did I ever tell you about my vision of the Ulster Unionist Spice Boys?

Pity the BBC. They so want the Ba'athist terrorists that infest this Saddamite stronghold to win, or at least give the US troops a bloody nose, that they have to keep re-hashing this story on a daily basis. I am amused to hear these terrorists described by BBC broadcasters as "activitists", "Militants", "Fighters"...anything but the T word. Well, the scum in Fallujah will be sorted out and once more, poor Auntie Beeb will be on the losing side.

>> 27 Apr 2004

NEW ECO-TOURIST DELIGHTS...

With the celebratory news that the three Irishmen found wandering in the FARC controlled Colomian jungle on false passports have been declared innocent of having any bad thoughts whatsoever - even though one had the odd nickname "Mortar" - a new era of eco-tourism has dawned. I expect to see upcoming holidays to Gaza City, Fallujah, Downtown Beirut, Tehran and, hopefully Pyongyang. God bless the Colombian three - they have opened up a whole new way of looking at the world.

Whilst the likes of the BBC may have been impressed that 50 pro-Arabist UK Diplomats managed to write a letter to Blair condemning him for not permitting a second Holocaust in Israel and for not allowing Saddam to remain in power in his torture chamber Iraq, most of the rest of this will dismiss this spurious tripe for what it truly is. I am most impressed that these guys can still write in English. I wonder has Bin Laden ever thought of employing a few of them.They do seem sympathetic to his cause.

The Orwellian nomenclatured "Oversight Commissioner" of the PSNI, "You can call me Al" Hutchinson wins todays prize for the most grovelling Press release of the day with this little beauty. Please Sinn Fein, please join our Policing Board. We just can't make it work without you. Boo Hoo.

Is this the SAME Sinn Fein that featured so prominently in the IMC report into rampant paramilitarism? I think so. Here in Alice in Wonderland, the bad guys are molly-cuddled and waited upon whilst decent democrats are ignored. Maybe Al will next be urging the Taliban to join up with the new Afghanistan Government, and how about bringing those good ol' Ba'athist boys back intto Bagdad Government. You can call me Al, I'll call you an imbecile.

>> 26 Apr 2004

PUP'S BARK IS WORSE THAN ITS BITE..

Hold the press. The UVF's political apologists, the PUP, have declared that they will NEVER meet with the IMC again. David Ervine, the human equivalant of a bag of helium, has made it clear that he is REALLY ANGRY with the IMC for fining his "Party" £20,000.

The IMC report linked the UVF to murder, major crimes, so-called paramilitary punishment attacks and to a bomb placed outside a Belfast bar on St Patrick's Day. The Red Hand Commando group was accused of being deeply involved in drug dealing, something its leadership denies. This scumbag self-professed "loyalists" are every bit as bad as the IRA and the fact that the mangy PUP barks in protest counts for nothing. The PUP should be thrown out of the political process, along with Sinn Fein. It's presence is corrupting and destructive of the democratic process.

It is interesting to read the British press categorise the odious French politician Jean Marie Le Pen as "far right." He is nothing of the sort. If the media bothered to check up on his policies they would see he favours much of the Socialist mantra that holds sway over much of continental Europe with Big government and State interference. It is his views on immigration that for some strange reason make him "far right." In that respect he is much like Hitler - another extreme left-winger. The UK media uses every opportunity to stigmatise right-wing politics and that is what their coverage of Le Pen's visit is all about. By way of balance.

>> 25 Apr 2004

DISGUSTING MEDIA....

So, now we know. Turns out that the photo's used by CNN, Reuters, AP, and the Washington Post, allegedly of the war dead from Iraq are actually of the Space Shuttle Colombia crew killed in 2003 and returned to Dover Air base. Given the gloating over these photos from the leftist media in the past day, can we now expect to see large apologies? I think not. Anyone who doubts the outrageous extreme left bias of these organisations after this revelation requires psychiatric help. No blood for oil? How about using blood to sell?

Being out of the UK this week, I missed the furore over the comments made by ITV football pundit "Big Ron" Atkinson. His use of the word "nigger" was deemed racist and he promptly resigned from his TV and newspaper contracts. Whilst I thnk he was an idiot to say what he did, I also think the howls of outrage from the PC lobby are sickening. I mean, the "N" word is used in my favourite song by Elvis Costello "Oliver's Army."

As the song puts it, "One more widow one less white nigger" Is Elvis a racist too? Atkinson was a fool but not a racist, as anyone who knows his record as a Football manager can confirm.

I was very sorry to hear of the death of "metric martyr" Steve Thoburn, aged 39. This brave man challenged the EU dictators who demanded that he did not sell goods exclusively in our British imperial measurements. The best memorial we can pay to him is to ovewhelmingly reject the EU socialist US hating Arabist loving constitution and row back from our participation in this rotten EU monstrosity.

Gerry Adams spoke the truth - again! Here he says that the Northern Ireland "political process" is in deep trouble after his meeting with Blair. Since Gerry knows that the political process is predicated on appeasing his alter-ego IRA thugs, he is in a position to let us know how the wheels have come off the appeasement bus. Never mind Gerry - let's cancel the rancid appeasement and try a new approach. Here's the outline of it;

1. All terrorist groups banned, all their assets seized, all their leaders imprisoned.

2. All political parties linked to terrorist groups thrown out of the political process.

3. A fresh set of political talks instigated aimed at finding a SOLUTION acceptable to all democrats.

>> 23 Apr 2004

The Friday Essay.

THE EURO-MAN COMETH...

Listening to the chorus of horrified outrage from European politicians greeting the news that Israel has successfully killed Hamas terrorist leader Abdel aziz al-Rantissi, one could be forgiven for thinking that it had been these liberal’s patron saint, Kofi Annan, which Israel had somehow targeted!

British Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, summed up the views of the Euro-sheep when he bleated, “The British government has made it repeatedly clear that so-called targeted assassinations' of this kind are unlawful, unjustified and counter-productive." This echoes similar sentiments he expressed on the occasion of the death of psycho Sheikh Yassin. Then Straw informed Israel that, “it is unacceptable, it is unjustified and it is very unlikely to achieve its’ objectives”

Straw is the archetypical Euro-man. Opposed to terrorism in theory, in practise he does all he can do pacify and appease it. Like most dripping wet liberals, Straw has never met a terrorist that he did not want to “engage” with. He shares the deep-seated illusion with others of his kind that terrorists can somehow be persuaded to turn away from their murderous path by a winning combination of “inclusive dialogue” and a sympathetic “reaching out.”

Those who have experienced the cutting edge of terrorism know that this laughable notion could not be more far-fetched. Terrorists deal exclusively in fear, mayhem and death and they only understand resolute political will and crushing military strength.

And yet the most cursory consideration of the current realities also confounds Straw’s inane comments. For a start, killing all terrorist masterminds is obviously entirely justified and also highly productive. Who, after all, is Jack Straw to tell Israel what is lawful and what is not? Is he the new Moses? From whence does he derive his moral imprimatur? Has Straw noticed, for example, that Sheikh Yassin has not been unable to plan terror strikes in the past moth and that now Rantissi has joined him in a period of eternal inactivity!

How many innocent lives have been saved by the removal from planet Earth of these malignant killers? The cowards in Hamas now refuse to even name whoever has succeeded Rantissi because they now knows the fiery fate that will befall such a person. That’s further proof that terrorists do understand force. In summary, killing terrorists is an admirable objective and a necessary step for a country determined to defend its’ citizens. The only issue under discussion should be how many and how quickly these terrorist war-lords can be taken out.

But back in Euro-land there is only blank incomprehension at this. The crunch issue for all these straw men is that they cannot bring themselves to accept that Hamas really is a bloody “terrorist” organisation. Equivocation has entered the very soul of this political class and rendered it incapable of distinguishing between right and wrong. We saw this manifest in their desire to keep Saddam in power and we see it most recently in the result of the Spanish election when left winger Jose Zapatero cruised to power on the back of his pathetic pleading for al Qu’eda to please leave his country alone.

Thus the likes of the late unlamented Sheikh Yassin are portrayed as “deeply spiritual” men whose only crime was to be Palestinian. The Euro-media conspire in this nauseating fantasy through the repeated description of Hamas members as either “militants” or “activists.” The “t” for terrorist word is never mentioned! This nuanced evasion instils the idea that somehow machine-gun toting Hamas thugs seeking to indiscriminately slaughter Israeli men women and children are a legitimate counter to the IDF. Welcome to the land of the Euro-man!

By killing the terrorist Rantissi, Israel has done a great service to true democrats everywhere. It has shown that there is at least one nation outside of the United States that fully understands that terrorists must be brought to justice or justice visited upon them. It has demonstrated, once again, that it is a moral beacon in the darkness of the Middle East. For that, it earns the predicable scorn of the Euro-men and the gratitude of the rest of us.

>> 22 Apr 2004

THERE'S NOT ENOUGH SOAP...

So Princess Tony vows that the "Northern Ireland parties must be clean" of connections to paramilitaries. Really? Seeing as how the same Prime Minister has stated the "inextricable" links between the IRA and Sinn Fein and the PUP and the UVF, and presuming the PM knows the meaning of the word "inextricable" - isn't this just one more pointless froth from the man you can't trust? There's not enough soap in the world to clean the blood off the hands of these barbarians and Blair should just shut up and stop boring us with his PR tripe.

>> 21 Apr 2004

TRAITOR CELEBRATED.

Today see the release of Mordecai Vanunu from prison. It is not just in Israel but around the world where this wretch is being lauded by fellow leftist travellers and Israel-haters. Here's an excerpt from Steven Plaut's take on it.

"The Israeli Left is celebrating the release from prison of its great

hero, Mordecai Vanunu, who had been in prison after being convicted for

espionage. The Left is being more and more open about endorsing and

promoting treason. The same leftists promote insurrection in the Israeli

military. They denounce Israel all over the world as a "Fascist" or

"apartheid" state. They justify Arab terrorism and Islamofascism. And they

have now adopted Vanunu as their role model.

The Bash-Israel Left has been trying to claim that Vanunu was nothing more

Israel. In other words, Vanunu and his cheerleaders simply would like to

see Israel annihilated, and the nukes make this more difficult.

Not convinced? Well, consider this. The very same man of conscience,

Vanunu, who supposedly just thinks nukes are naught and nasty, DENOUNCED

Israel when it obliterated the Iraqi nuclear plant back in 1981. I guess

he opposes nuclear facilities only when they are not being used to help

create an Islamic nuclear bomb."

Visit Stevens site and read the full article. You won't get this insight in the Euro-weenie media - they're too busy pushing Vanunu for a Nobel Peace Prize for his traitorous behaviour. He is always worth a read!

Daniel Pipes makes several excellent points here with regard to the possible undercurrents happening amongst Palestinians. Sinking into poverty whilst millions slush about in Arafat's ban accounts, perhaps they are beginnning to understand that the Yassins, the Rantissis and above all, the Arafats of this world, will only ensure they stay sunk in the sewers they inhabit on their way to lasting physical, moral and spiritual degradation

The vilification of Jose Maria Aznar in the leftist media totally obscures the point that here was a politician who grasped the Islamist threat to our global society. In an interview with Fox News, here is a great quote;

QUESTION: Why did you decide to join President Bush, to join the coalition and go into Iraq, despite overwhelming opposition in your country?

AZNAR : Because the task of a political leader is to do what he believes is better for his country. Sometimes the public opinion is in favor; sometimes the public opinion needs a little bit more time to understand things. I mean, how many British supported Churchill when he said that Hitler was a threat? How many people in how many countries have understood the threats or their leaders at a particular moment in time? It is, of course, much better to get as much support as possible, but a political leader has a responsibility. A good political leader meets his responsibility.

Obviously this sort of resolute political leadership was a threat to Al Qu'eda and any other scumbag terrorists such as ETA. The frenzy that the Spanish media went into post 11/3 ensured that Aznar was put to the wall, and the appeasing Zapatero brought in to beg for mercy from Bin Laden.

"If you have not heard Hillary Clinton's latest, please forgive me for presenting it to you. Talking to Katie Couric � who else (almost)? � she said, "It's been said, and I think it's accurate, that my husband was obsessed by terrorism in general and al Qaeda in particular." Yes, that's why President Clinton took such harsh and alacritous action after the first World Trade Center bombing, and Khobar Towers, and the embassy bombings, and the Cole. Of course."

The witterings of druid cum Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, continue to demonstrate the immoral anti-christian heart of the current COE. For Williams to suggest that liberating millions from the tyranny of Saddam has been "damaging" for the UK makes we wonder if it was 60 years back in time, would he be wittering that the liberation of the surviving Jews from the concentration camps? Only Blair would have thought such a man was fit to head up the now sadly apostate Church of England.

I was very sorry to hear of the death from cancer of TV presenter 41 year old Caron Keating. Obviously the death of this young mother is a tragedy for her husand and kids. It is also devastating for her mother, Gloria Hunniford. Yet when I saw pictures of Gloria splattered across the media this morning, I couldn't help but feel a sense of revulsion at the prurient obsessions of the media! This is a private tragedy - an awful family loss. Shouldn't the cameras stay away out of a sense of decency and respect - or do thos who live in the media have to be buried with the cameras still pointing at them and their next of kin? Disgusting.

>> 20 Apr 2004

FINKELSTEIN ON WHO WON THE WAR...

Glad to read Daniel Finkelstein conclude in the Times that progress in Northern Ireland has been purchased by appeasing the terrorists and pretending it is a peace process. Pity the Times has been to the fore in supporting this policy.

The absolutely ridiculous International Monitoring Commission (IMC) has been very busy in recent days...leaking it's own report due to be made public today. It transpires that all the paramilitary gangs have been as active as ever..shock horror! Yes, the IRA was directly responsible for the Tohill attempted kidnap, and yes, the UVF and UDA are up to their rotten necks in every form of rancid criminality. And the tough consequences for this? Well, had the Assembly been sitting, it is likely that Sinn Fein and the PUP might have been suspended "for a few weeks." Wow, that'll teach 'em. Seeing as how even this limp punishment is not open due to the current suspension, the IMC has suggested that Sinn Fein and the PUP might be "fined." This is unlikely to come out of MLA salaries, god forbid, instead their Party allowances (expenses) might be reduced a bit, for a while. It's unclear what the financial penalty is going to be, or how much a murder costs compared to say, a knee-capping or a crucifixion. The economists will need to work out the punitive value of a bludgeoning with a baseball bat compared to a battering with an iron bar. Who said that the IMC was a complete waste of time? Oh yes, me.

>> 19 Apr 2004

THE HOT HOUSE TALKS ARE DEEP FROZEN.....

Only one week after the BBC had trumpeted a potential "breakthrough" (whatever that means) in the imminent "hothouse talks" between the NI parties and Government, it turns out that the talks have been cancelled. Until further notice! What a laugh. I really enjoyed the propaganda line from the NIO that "more work needed to be done"! Sure. Isn't it obvious to even the slowest learner that the so-called Good Friday Agreement is dead in the water. The days of endless immoral concessions to the IRA are finally behind us.

>> 18 Apr 2004

EURO-REFERENDUM ON IT'S WAY...

It is a telling sign of how Blair has traduced our democracy in the UK that the fact the he may now offer the nation a voTe before he surrenders our national liberties to the EU has been treated by the BBC (surprise surpise) as if it were a big deal. Of course the UK should decide if it wants to see the EU take control of every important aspect of our country. But you can bet your bottom Euro that Blair will ensure that both the timing and the content of the question to be asked will be so skewed and then so supported by the likes of the lapdog anti-British BBC, that it will make it very difficult to counter it.

So, Jose Zapatero has sent Al Qu'eda a strong warning by..withdrawing his troops from Iraq. Beating a hasty retreat, with their tails between their legs, surely Al Qu'eda will not trifle with the might Spanish again?

A recent letter in the Spectator made me revisit this poem by Phillip Larkin. It is a wonderful work and presciently captures the damage that Labour has done and is doing to that which makes Britain great.

GOING, GOING by Philip Larkin.

I thought it would last my time -

The sense that, beyond the town,

There would always be fields and farms,

Where the village louts could climb

Such trees as were not cut down;

I knew there'd be false alarms

In the papers about old streets

And split level shopping, but some

Have always been left so far;

And when the old part retreats

As the bleak high-risers come

We can always escape in the car.

Things are tougher than we are, just

As earth will always respond

However we mess it about;

Chuck filth in the sea, if you must:

The tides will be clean beyond.

- But what do I feel now? Doubt?

Or age, simply? The crowd

Is young in the M1 cafe;

Their kids are screaming for more -

More houses, more parking allowed,

More caravan sites, more pay.

On the Business Page, a score

Of spectacled grins approve

Some takeover bid that entails

Five per cent profit (and ten

Per cent more in the estuaries): move

Your works to the unspoilt dales

(Grey area grants)! And when

You try to get near the sea

In summer . . .

It seems, just now,

To be happening so very fast;

Despite all the land left free

For the first time I feel somehow

That it isn't going to last,

That before I snuff it, the whole

Boiling will be bricked in

Except for the tourist parts -

First slum of Europe: a role

It won't be hard to win,

With a cast of crooks and tarts.

And that will be England gone,

The shadows, the meadows, the lanes,

The guildhalls, the carved choirs.

There'll be books; it will linger on

In galleries; but all that remains

For us will be concrete and tyres.

Most things are never meant.

This won't be, most likely; but greeds

And garbage are too thick-strewn

To be swept up now, or invent

Excuses that make them all needs.

I just think it will happen, soon.

When I see the grinning Blair and contemplate the next general election, I feel as Larkin felt and I wonder if it is already far too late. I think it has happened.

Mr Sadd must be the world's strangest car thief. Were it not for the anguish that drivers feel when their cars are stolen (and I speak from personal experience!) one would also feel sorry for this Sadd man!

Reader Jacko has brought an article in the ST on South Africa to my attention. It seems that Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, the South African foreign minister, is emerging as the most likely choice for the post of the nation’s vice-president. This delightful lady proudly supports tyrants such as Mugabe and Castro. The fact that such a monster could gain such an elevated position raises many questions about the political situation that now prevails in South Africa.

All decent people were glad to see Apartheid fall. This evil regime was an affront to humanity and it is good that justice has been done. However, the ANC is a rancid marxist cabal and what we are now witnessing is the difference between democracy and liberty. Sure, people can vote. But where is the liberty in a country whose political leadership stands idly by and watches Mugabe ethically cleanse and starve his own people? Where is the liberty in a country with a murder rate that exceeds downtown Falujah on a Saturday night?

It is profoundly disappointing to see that South Africa has not realised its full potential - and if useful fools like Zuma ever get their hands on the levers of power - it never will. Let us hope that a more mature younger political class can rise up and more fully understand that just having majority rule is not enough.After all, they had that in Iraq and it sure didn't make it a land flowing with milk and honey.

Liam Clarke, in typical style, gets it entirely wrong about the situation prevailing between Sinn Fein and it's alter-ego the IRA. In the Sunday Times today, he argues that those bad IRA gangsters are holding back the Sinn Fein brown-shirts political progress by not putting away their weapons and disbanding their illegal terror group. If the IRA did this, nice Bairbre would enhance her chances at the looming Euro-poll. What Liam needs to get his mind around is the fact that terrorism is endemic to the existance of Sinn Fein. Without the threat of the gun and the bomb, Sinn Fein would lose it's mystique that so captivates the rotten UK and Irish media. Liam may find it hard not to feel sorry for Ms de Brun - I find it hard not to feel sorry for Liam and his lack of common sense.

You have to laugh. News that Government is introducing legislation that will permit members of the Irish police, the Gardai, to sit as lay magistrates in Northern Ireland (whilst members of Northern Ireland's OWN police force, sorry - police service - the PSNI - cannot) has caused North Down MP and political heavyweight Lady Sylvia Hermon to lash out! But Lady Sylvia - you told us that your Party had made the Union more secure than it ever has been! Don't say you were lying?

Excellent news from Israel. The IDF has assassinated the terrorist warlord Aziz al-Rantissi. This is the right approach. First the pyscho Sheikh Yassin, now Rancid thug Rantissi - next? Wonder how Yasser is sleeping this nights?

Ann Coulter sums up the hypocrisy on stilts which the 9/11 has, predictable, turned into:-

"The 9/11 commission has finally uncovered the proverbial 'smoking gun'! But it was fired by one of the 9/11 commissioners. Maybe between happy reminiscences about the good old days of Ruby Ridge, Waco and the Elian Gonzales raid, Ben-Veniste could ask Gorelick about those guidelines. Democrats think it's a conflict of interest for Justice Scalia to have his name in the same phonebook as Dick Cheney, but there is no conflict of interest having Gorelick sit on a commission that should be investigating her."

Surely the partisan behavior of several members of this Commission invaidates in advance any conclusions they will arrive at? In my opinion, Bush should refuse to co-operate with this mutant arrangement.

Excellent interview here with Kenneth Timmerman, author of "The French betrayal of America."

Interesting to read that Jacques Chirac, that most beloved European leader of the "anti-war" fedayeen, had his own reasons to keep Saddam in power. In fact, he had 100 billion of them. That's the amount of revenue France expected from a deal done between CFT Total and Elf Aquitaine (when State owned) and Saddams regime in the late 1990's. As Kenneth points out, this must be the biggest bribe in history. No blood for oil - mais oui!

>> 17 Apr 2004

IT'S VIETNAM ALL OVER AGAIN..ISN' IT?

Quite a neat article here from Charles Krauthammer on the ludicrous comparisons between Iraq and Vietnam. Of course to the liberals that run most of or media, Iraq was going to be "another Vietnam" even before we went in! Then, even after the historic 21 day rush to Baghdad and the destruction of the Ba'athist regime, they keep droning on about Vietnam. In the UK, the BBC is obsessed with Iraq and Vietnam. Time to get over it guy's - not only are you totally wrong but also very boring!

A useful history lesson from Don Feder on the alleged Palestinian "right of return" which so concerns the leftist BBC.

The media, which cultivate historical amnesia, rarely tell us how Palestinian refugees became refugees.

The very hour that the Jews declared statehood in 1948, they were invaded by five neighboring Arab states. The stated goal was to drive the Jews into the sea. Their would-be liberators told local Arabs to evacuate so they wouldn’t be caught in the crossfire. Latter, they were assured, they could return to their homes, as well as those of the Jews – who by then would be floating in the Mediterranean.

Roughly 600,000 Arabs followed that advice. Another 200,000, responding to the entreaties of Ben Gurion and other Zionist leaders, stayed and became full citizens of the new state.

At the same time, 800,000 Jews were driven from Arab countries, some from homes their families had known for millennia. The choice: Stay and be killed by rampaging mobs or emigrate. No one – repeat no one – is suggesting that the Jews whose families fled Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, etc. be repatriated.

Nor, for that matter, is there a claimed right of return for any of the other political refugees (numbered in the tens of millions) who trudged or were shoved across national borders throughout the 20th century.

The Germans pushed out of Poland and Czechoslovakia at the end of World War II, the Hindus and Moslems who ended up in India or Pakistan respectively, the Greeks and Armenians ejected from Turkey, the Holocaust survivors who weren’t allowed to return to their homes in Eastern Europe, the pied noir (French settlers) forced out of Algeria at the time of its independence – are but a few examples of mass migrations caused by war, revolution or politics.

Don helpfully exposes the gross double standards that afflicts the global liberal media when it comes to the Palestinians and Israel.

>> 16 Apr 2004

The Friday Essay.

BIN LADEN BOUND FOR THE WHITE HOUSE?

Prominent British politician, Mo Mowlam, has called upon the US Government to stop fighting the war against the Jihadists and instead to sit down and negotiate at the talks table with Bin Laden and his Al Qu’eda henchmen.

Quite what is to “negotiated” is left rather unclear, but since we know that Al Qu’eda seeks the destruction of Western Civilisation in general, and the US in particular, the concept of negotiating really reduces to de facto US surrender to Al Qu’eda.

Subjugation to a renewed militant Islamic Caliphate is the best result we can hope for - or at least such is the considered political wisdom from a woman once dubbed as “Britain’s favourite politician.”

Marjorie Mowlam, a member of Tony Blair’s Labour Party, and a darling of the UK leftist media, says that she will use her new one woman show to criticise government policy on Iraq and the Middle East. Mowlam, who stood down as an MP in 2001, said the US and UK should open dialogue with their enemies.

In an interview with UK television to be broadcast this Easter Sunday, Ms Mowlam claims that the UK and US were acting as a "recruitment officer for the terrorists" by carrying out military action in Iraq.

Asked if she could imagine "Al-Qu’eda and Osama bin Laden arriving at the negotiating table," she replied: "You have to do that. If you do not you condemn large parts of the world to war forever.”

What could be clearer? If you don’t give in to terrorism you are storing up problems for yourself! That’s tough love, British socialist style.

It’s hard to imagine from such deranged immoral ramblings that Mowlam was a central figure in British politics only a few short years ago, back in the late 1990’s. Then she happily brought the propagandists for IRA terrorism to the talks table. Once again, “dialogue” was her solution to solving terrorism.

She also gained notoriety when she visited a top security prison and emerged to talk of “Johnny and Michael, the unsung heroes of the peace process. “ The gentlemen she referred to were Johnny Adair (convicted of being a Director of terrorism) and Michael Stone -a mass murderer.

Rather than dismiss Mowlam as one more has-been trying to garner publicity for her forthcoming one woman show, it is more instructive to understand that she is articulating that which many UK leftists feel.

For the past ten years, the UK has been praised around the world, including the USA, for its sickening policy of appeasement towards Irish terrorists. It didn’t matter that 3000 people have been murdered in Northern Ireland, under Bill Clinton the mission statement was to achieve peace at any price and that is what won Mowlam her accolades.

Here is an example of what the dripping-wet BBC’s political correspondent, Nick Assinger, had to say about her.

“Mo Mowlam has a quality most politicians would give their right arm to share - she is seen by voters as "one of us". She is almost universally admired in Westminster and persistently wins the award as Britain's most loved politician - albeit from a tiny field”

This “universally loved” politician had had no problems sipping tea and eating afternoon crumpets with individuals whose terrorist organisation has bombed and murdered, shot, maimed and tortured.

Indeed she was hailed as “International Woman of the Year” in 2000 for her sterling efforts in undermining the tenets of democratic government in Northern Ireland. It is a pity Neville Chamberlain was not available to present her with it.

So given all these international plaudits, one can only imagine her horror when she had discovered that President Bush wasn’t up for playing the appeasing game – at least not with Al Qu’eda. Mowlam would contend that continued US support for the Irish “peace process” justifies her argument that terrorists should be talked with.

She is stunned to discover that a US Government might be prepared to fight for its liberty, to defend its citizens and to secure its homeland from the threat of terrorism by an active policy of hunting down and killing terrorists.

Mowlam and the rest of the leftist British political caste cannot comprehend that terrorism can be crushed by the effective combination of political strength and military might. Instead they dream of endless “peace talks” and “inclusive dialogue”.

Such spineless appeasement ended for many Americans on 9/11, and there are still some people in Northern Ireland who oppose having Irish terrorists placed in their Government, much as it may displease Tony Blair.

One positive suggestion is that Mowlam should be permitted to contact Al Qu’eda and be facilitated to visit them in one of their subterranean bolt-holes. That way, she could learn up close and personal, the morality of the barbarous terrorism she yearns to accommodate.

>> 15 Apr 2004

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE DRUIDS...?

Here's a letter from the Belfast Telegraph section tonight demanding that Atheism should be included in the school RE syllabus. What about Druidism, what about paganism, what about pious humanist half-wits keeping quiet?

Readers will know that I am no fan of any Northern Ireland political party, but even by the wretched standards tha exist here, the SDLP is plumbing new depths of utter irrelevance.

I read today that one SDLP politician has called for a pardon for five men hanged for murder...almost TWO HUNDRED years ago. Peter Fitzpatrick, a member of Down council, is demanding that action be taken. Honestly, you couldn't make it up.

I also note that SDLP Assembly representative Patsy McGlone has attacked the official electoral guidelines recently issued for making reference to "idiots and lunatics." I can understand why.

>> 14 Apr 2004

A TYRANT WE CAN DO BUSINESS WITH....

After he had used WMD on his own people, invaded Kuwait, tortured and murdered hundreds of thousands of his OWN people, Saddam still had a friend. Guess who said, in 1998, "Can I trust Saddam Hussein? I think I can do business with him"?Answer: UN Secretary General Kofi "Don't mention Rwanda" Annan. And now Jean Francois Kerry thinks we need to hand the development of Iraq over to these goons!!!

Glad to hear President Bush make it clear that the US will use "decisive force" in a bid to put down the Jihadists and Ba'aathist scum who are causing the current problems. This is the message that Iraqi's need to hear, they need to understand that the strog horse will prevail and that those who oppose it will be exterminated.

Here's an excellent article that answers the question why it is that the US/Western media, is generally left alone in Iraq and has been even able to film from behind enemy lines. The answer, of course, is that the Media has become an indispensable ally to the Jihadists. Once again, useful idiots conspire to threaten democracy.

DUP leader Dr. Paisley is quite to ask what tacit agreements resulted in Paul Murphy saying that "the Joint Declaration represented a 'shared understanding between the (pro-agreement) parties'. What DID the UUP agree to? What has Mr. Trimble to hide? Why attack the DUP for only asking for some light to be caste on secret deals? Here's a thought; might UUP fury be directed at the fact that the unearthing of more limp Trimble-managed appeasement of Republicanism would demonstrate to the electorate just how useless the UUP was - two months before the Euro-poll? Mmmmm..

One year on from the death of pro-terrorist groupie Rachel Corrie, Steven Plaut neatly encapsulates the hypocrisy concerning her subsequent elevation to sainthood by the liberal left.

I fully agree with the following lines;

"Corrie died as a result of her own obtuseness. She was in Gaza to help promote Palestinian terrorism and to prevent Israel from protecting its

own citizens. She died protecting the illegal tunnels into Gaza from Egypt, through which the suicide bombers obtained their materials. The

most lasting images of Corrie was of her face contorted with rage as she burned an American flag. When Reuters reported that Palestinians

"honored" her after her death in a "symbolic funeral" by flying US flags, James Taranto from the Wall Street Journal remarked that if Corrie were

still alive, no doubt she'd have burned the flags. Even the Far-Leftist Mother Jones magazine considered her a dangerous and deluded little twit . The Israeli army investigated the death and concluded that Corrie had effectively committed suicide. Taranto also suggested that Corrie be

awarded the "Idiotarian of the Year Award". A Darwin Award is in order"

>> 12 Apr 2004

THE WITCHES CAULDRON...

Mark Devonport reports on British/Irish Government plans to achieve "progress" in the 3 days of "hot house talks." I love the way these BBC reporters parrot the tripe talked by Government officials and then regurgitate it as "News"

Here's a safe prediction. After the "hothouse" talks have concluded, there will be much exited talk of real progress whilst all that will happen is our democracy will be compromised even further. The DUP will have an important role to play here ensuring that Blair does not prostitute Northern Ireland even further than he has already.

The Belfast Agreement is dead - it's time Government stopped greiving at its loss.

Not often you read anything of substance in the Sunday Life rag, but I was entertained at this story, which asserts that David Trimble is to be criticised by the Irish Government at the UN! Given the UN's record of supporting terrorists around the world, its rampant ant-Semitism, and its moral bankruptcy, were I Mr. Trimble I would be feeling rather proud of myself. Trimble has committed the cardinal sin of speaking his mind about Nelson and Finucane in the British House of Commons. It seems that whilst republicans and their fellow travellers can insinuate what they want about the UK Government, the British Army, the RUC, the UDR, and any Unionist who refuses to accept their propaganda, they squeal like stuck pigs when debate is directed the other way.

News from the parasite sector...they're on strike. Civil servants are continuing to hold selective strikes at several government departments here, according to UTV reports. The trade unions are out to cause maximum disruption to the public in pursuance of their wage claims with Government.

OK - here's the solution. Invite the workers concerned to return to work - or sack them. It should be possible for private business to provide the same services - 365 days a year - to the public for a fraction of the indulgence of keeping these parasites employed.

Once again we see how MALIGNANT Trade Unions are, how DISINTERESTED they are in providing a service to the public, and how INEFFICIENT the service they provide actually is.

In a valiant effort to demoralise those brave soldiers fighting for liberty and freedom in Iraq against the Saddamite scum and the Jihadists, the BBC brings together a selection of "despairing" international media stores on the position in Iraq one year on. Of course only leftists would pay any attention to this brew of defeatism. The US will prevail but it will no thanks to a gutless international press that has become so traduced that it is incapable of recognising right from wrong. The US liberation of Iraq was right, attempts to bring about ONE democracy in the Middle East are right, and massive military reponses to the insurgents are right. The Jihadists must just love the world's spineless press.

On my list of essential Easter reading has been an excellent new book by David Frum and Richard Pearle called "An end to Evil." In this concise neatly argued tome, the authors spell out that we will only WIN the war on terror if we;

1. Ensure that the mad Mullahs in Iran are overthrown

2. Bring about the end of Boy Assad's Syrian dictatorship

3. Review how the US perceives the likes of France and Saudi. With particular regard toi Saudi, there is a very useful agenda proposed.

4. WITHDRAW from the UN. (Yes!)

5. Put the squeeze on China, tighten the noose on North Korea via a blockade.

6. Abandon all support for Arafat's terror regime.

Eloquently argued, this is a good read and a pleasant antidote to the Euro-weenie whinge of the UK mass media.

>> 10 Apr 2004

TWO MINUTES SILENCE FOR JENNY TONGE...

So Lib-dem sweetheart Jenny Tonge, a favourite of the BBC since she was sacked for sympathising with Palestinian suicide-bombers, has gone one step forward and held a two minute silence for psycho Sheikh Yassin, assassinated by the IDF.

Is it only a matter of time until Tonge straps on an explosives belt?

As Melanie Phillips puts it "So they honour a man who was responsible for the mass murder of innocents. Those whom he murdered are not only not honoured, but their memory is utterly and disgustingly betrayed." Too true. What else one would expect from Ms Tonge?

Extremists in PETA (People for the ethical treatment of animals) have targetted Beyonce for her wearing of a fur coat. These wacko-facists demand that Beyonce stop wearing such clothes. She should ignore them, though I fear she will be forced to bow the kneee to them. If people want to wear fur that's their business. PETA are a moral disgrace, do animalS few favours, and suffer from a lack of basic humanity. I intend to do an article on PETA soon. Mind you, from what I've seen of Beyonce, she doesn't seem to cover her body in fur too often!

In true Mo Mowlam style, Tony and Bertie also believe ( foolishly ) that "dialogue" is the only way forward. "Dialogue" in this instance means talking to the terrorists and then pretending that it matters a jot what democrats think. The announcement of proximity talks next week is one more fig leaf to disguise the fact that the Belfast Agreement is dead in the water. Anyone listening to BBC'S "Let's Talk" this past week must have been bored senseless listening to Durkan and Kelly trot out the endless nationalist/republican whinge about the non-existant "Good Friday Agreement" It's time to move on, without Sinn Fein and the PUP, and the sooner Government wakes up to this the better. The political environment changed here last Nov 26th but almost sox months later, the political establishment is pretending it is still Nov 25th. Sorry guys, but you really do need to waken up.

The Iraqi Governing Council should save it's breath. Calling for a "cease-fire" at Fallujah is a very bad move. What is required is the unconditional surrender of those Islamofascists and Baathists holed up there. Either that or their obliteration will do. This is how wars are won or lost. Equivocating about "cease-fires" is a distraction. What worked in Dresden and Hiroshima may be required in parts of Iraq - total subjucation to the conquering power. Leaving rebels in situ is only going to store up problems, as the past twelve months demonstrates.

>> 9 Apr 2004

THE FRIDAY ESSAY

A TALE OF TWO GOOD FRIDAY'S

Here's a thing! Do a Google search for "Good Friday Agreement" and you obtain almost 2,000,000 matches. Then try a search for "The Belfast Agreement" and you will find just a paltry 200,000. Such is the power of political myth-making! Of course despite it's prominence in cyberspace there is no such thing as the "Good Friday Agreement."Yet those who brought "The Belfast Agreement" into being back in 1998 understood the benefits that would flow from mawkish sentiment squeezed through a liberal political prism. Six years later, media pundits still refer to the "Good Friday Agreement" with reverential awe, attaching an almost palpable sense of religious iconography to this political agreement. Who would be so foolish as to oppose "Good Friday"?

Who indeed! Well, given the obscene content of the political arrangement brought into play that day, I contend that to attach the profundity of the original Good Friday to such a tatty deal should be viewed as blasphemous. However since we live in an increasingly post-Christian society this may not mean much. But perhaps there are a few resonances between the original Easter story and that which happened in 1998 after all that we can all grasp!

In each situation, a central role was given to a pragmatist. In the 21st century, being a pragmatist rather than an ideologue is considered to be a good thing by our "see no evil speak no evil" liberal elite. Pontius Pilate was the ultimate pragmatist. The Gospels portray him as being an intelligent man, far from a bloodthirsty monster. He occupied the position granted him by Rome because of his consummate political ability to achieve stability through compromise. He was a fixer. But he had the wit to understand when he was being asked to do that which is wrong. He still proceeded to sentence an innocent man to death by crucifixion. He made the original sacrifice or " risk for peace" if you prefer. Thus the consequences that flowed from the actions of this unprincipled and weak man were to have devastating consequences; The Son of God was taken to Golgotha.

Fast forward in time almost two thousand year and step forward David Trimble. The Ulster Unionist Leader is an intelligent man and an able politician. He must have known that what he has being asked to do was both immoral and contrary to his own political beliefs. He must have known he was betraying those who had laid down their lives to keep IRA terrorists from gaining power. But compromise was the name of the game, once more. There would be no peace without it. He would face immense criticism from the great and the good and President Clinton if he said no. So, in true Pilate mode, he said "Yes" and then spent five years trying to wash the consequnces from his hands.

This brings us to the Barrabas comparison. Pontius Pilate offered the baying mob a choice; He would release Barrabas a "notable prisoner"and "murderer" or Jesus. According to Matthew 27.20, it took the chief priests and elders - the opinion-formers of the day, if you like - to ensure the right result prevailed. And so it was that the mob was persuaded to reject Christ, the Son of God, and instead exhorted Pilate to release Barrabas. It was a low point for humanity.

In Northern Ireland, the proposition was put to the public to release from prison some of the most depraved killers to have ever walked this Earth. Loyalist and Republican, these murderers had been found guilty of truly shocking acts of depravity and put behind bars. The new proposal was that they now had to released if "peace"was to be obtained. The entire apparatus of the establishment, including the main Churches, (The Chief Priests and Elders) all supported this idea. In essence, they bayed again "Release Barrabus!" Thus everything moves on but nothing changes. By a majority of 70% the mob prevailed and the legions of Barrabus strolled free from justice. Rejoicing was everywhere - except for sullen fellows like me.

There is perhaps one final point that I would like to make with regard to the two Good Friday's. The God that watched his son make the ultimate sacrifice for us two thousands years ago is the same God that watched what transpired in Belfast back in 1998. Those who participated in this ignoble event will be called upon to account for what they done. At the point, perhaps the words of Pontius Pilate will resonate with them one final time, "I am innocent of the blood of this just person; see ye to it"

>> 8 Apr 2004

GOALPOSTS ARE MOVING...

One of the obscenities of this Easter period is the annual "Easter Message" from the murdering thugs in the IRA. As usual we get unctious journalists treating the poisonous words spewed out by the Provos as if they had meaning. They don't. The IRA needs to be made to disband and surrender - or be obliterated. End of story - and that's my Easter Message to them.

How touching. Irish PM Bertie Ahern swears blind that he has NEVER asked anyone for a donation in 27 years. As if anyone would doubt his word on this! As everyone knows, politicians are upright honest fellows only ever driven to do good to their fellow man. Yeah.

Condi Rice goes in front of the increasingly strident 9/11 committee today, with the leftist international vast-left wing media conspiracy (!) caterwauling for her scalp. Bet they'll get a BIG disappointment. Rice strikes me as a very able articulate LADY who has nothing to fear from telling the truth. Maybe Republicans should be calling for Bubba Bill Clinton to come to the 9/11 committee and explain why it was that his administration refused to go after Al Qu'eda even after WTC 1?

A few months ago, I debated ID cards on the radio and came out in total opposition to them. Nice to see that Peter Hitchens, he of the varying political sensibility but a good guy overall, agrees in last week's Spectator.

In essence, our objection to the Blair Government's plan to introduce these ID cards reduces to the following elements;

1. They will have absolutely no substantial impact on the war against Jihadists. As Peter notes, 15 of the 9/11 terrorists travelled on legal visas. I suspect that Blair is using the excuse of the ongoing war to cloak his own agenda, as ever. Tellingly, Spanish citizens carry ID cards - it didn't make a button of difference to 11/3.

2. They have no obvious benefit in the war against crime. There is no evidence that those countries that have already introduced ID cards have seen crime levels fall. What is to stop a burglar on his way to a crime carying an ID card? A stupid fatuous argument, most spectacularly employed by the right-on Sir John Stephens.

But the biggest reason to oppose these cards is that quite simply it is a removal of fundamental liberty and a major encroachment by the State into our private affairs. No UK Government should be able to stick its nose into our affairs. It has the potential to bring the day of a Government-controlled Police State closer and must be rigourously opposed by all thinking people.

>> 6 Apr 2004

IRISH PARTIES URGE IRA TO DISBAND....

It would be churlish not to welcome this call from three political parties in the Republic for all terrorist groups to disband. Few sensible people would dispute that the continued existance of the IRA. UVF and UDA is both anachronistic and deeply unwelcome. Enda Kelly speaks very well on the issue and congrats where they are due. (I disagree with Trevor Sargent's call for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, but his support for the headline issue is nonetheless welcome) My only concern is where does our Bertie stand on this matter? Has he a problem calling for the immediate standing down of the IRA? Mmm..I wonder.

Reading this report into the unlimited greed of local Councillors made me thank God that I have nothing to do with them. It seems to me that their primary interest is in using their public soapbox to release press statement of stunning pomposity on matters they cannot influence whilst delivering all the economic efficiency of a Soviet tractor factory. In many respects, when one considers what our local Councillors do, there is a good argument for abolishing local Government. It costs a packet, does nothing of merit, and indulges gross egos. Maybe they should all go on strike because they are not getting the money they seek but then again, how would we know?

Anyone turning on a TV, Radio or opening a newspaper, cannot have missed the fact that today is the 30th anniversary of Abba winning Eurovision with the mighty "Waterloo". Can I just put on record my admiration for ABBA, they wrote and sang some of the best pop songs ever, and whilst pasted by the music critics, their music endures. From the sparkling pop of "Ring Ring", through the acoustic singalong "Fernando", to the dark anthemic "Winner takes it all", they were truly special and the fact that the public still rates their music all these years later is testament to the merit of what they did. Poptastic.

Listening to Radio 4's Today programme is like listening to one long sustained anti-Bush sneer. Each morning, the BBC take delight in flagging up one more imagined "falure" of current US policy in Iraq. Today we were given the opportunity to have an "anti-war" Democrat from the States have a five minute bash ast Bush. But we way of balance, we had a Labour MP on to put the other side! Absolutely pathetic. How I wish Donald Rumsfeld would grant them a five minute interview and demolish their fatuous pro-Saddam nonsense. But of course, unlike Democrats - Rumseld has a job to do!

>> 5 Apr 2004

GUNS AMNESTY SHOCK HORROR..

Only in a namby-pamby socialist Republic would the immediate reaction to an increase in brutal shootings be to declare....a guns amnesty! The Tallaght shooting should mean a bigger crackdown on those who possess such illegal weapons - not an amnesty. McDowell's short-term judgement is wrong here.

Nice article here from Frank Salvato on Ms Streisand and her continued battle against reality! Her histrionic hatred of President Bush makes me wonder how could God have given someone such an exceptional voice and such a miniscule brain?

Not if we believe the conclusions of the RUC, as presented by roving politician and Chief Constable Hugh Orde. However given the serious accusations made by David Trimble in the Commons, shoudl there not be an independent inquiry into Finucane in order that his name be cleared? After all, the Nobel Laureate Trimble's words have frequently been touted by republicans as gospel when it suited them, now it doesn't suit poor old Mr. T is labelled a villain. Of course there is no doubt that Finucane's brothers were in terrorist organisations. This is merely an interesting observation. No doubt Mr. Finucane must have felt very bad about this - I wonder did he know they were members of an illegal organisation and if so, did he tell the police?

People talk relentlessly about the feeling known as the Monday Morning blues, but I have to admit that I enjoy the sense of a new week beginning, new challenges in place, fresh responsibilities and hopefully more achievements! With the sun shining and the week beginning, I give thanks I am alive, free (ish) and blessed with the most important thing of all - a loving family.

>> 4 Apr 2004

ALISTAIR COOKE - ULSTER ROOTS..

I was intrigued to read today that the late Alistair Cooke wanted to return to Northern Ireland to visit his family roots in Armoy in County Antrim. It is said that he put his "gift of the gab" down to this parental link to Northern Ireland. I wonder if anyone knows more about this? It seems poignant that this connection has only come to public interest after his death.

Good news from Spain. A gang of terrorists suspected of being involved in the Madrid bombings, blew themselves up rather than face justice. Included in their number is Serhane ben Abdelmajid Farkhet, alias "The Tunisian". The only sad thing is that a Spanish policeman was also killed in the action. Spanish security forces have done well to track down these killers and it is good that they have blown themselves to bits before they take any more innocent lives.

The first is that spouted by Blair and his minions. The other is the real one, that of a UK open to one and all, with no effective security and no effective Governmental control over who comes into this country. The latest alleged scam between Blair and Romania is not a surprise. This Government is the most wretched, the most self-hating, and the most loved by the liberal elite that control our media. It is undermining just about everything that made Britain great and yet the most our rotten media pine for is Blair to be replaced by the even more leftist Brown. Pathetic.

The brutal murders of four American civilian workers in the vipers nest of Fallujah, and the subsequent mutilation of their remains by grinning Saddamite Iraqis, was a very sickening sight. I believe it calls for a drastic response if there are not be further reoccurences of such barbarism. I agree with Tammy Bruce who has urged that Fallujah be given the Dresden treatment and razed to the ground. It is time these inhuman thugs understood who rides the strong horse. The response to these murders thus far has been far too weak and sends the wrong sort of message. Fallujah grew rich during the Saddam diktat and those who relish slaugthering the liberators of Iraq and their associates deserve no mercy of any kind. Razing Fallujah would send the right message, namely that the Saddamite era has gone and those who cling to it and its vile practices will join it in well-deserved oblivion. These savages need to be educated.

In the Sunday Times, Sue Denham suggests talks between the IRA’s political wing AND MEPs from the United Left/Nordic Green group in Strasbourg are well advanced. This is no big surprise as these HARD left extremists find attraction in each other. What amused me most was the denials of the Euro-trots that they were in any respect extremists. It also shows once again how poisonous the Euro-project is, and why the UK will eventually have to choose between sliding incorporation into Euro-trot-land (as Blair wishes) or extracting itself from this toxic destination and standing firm with the US. I know where I stand.

Cambridgeshire County Council has seen to the demolition today of the house where Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman were brutally murdered by Ian Huntley. I wonder what sense of evil resides in the bricks and mortar at such a place of horror? God knows wha the last moments of life where for those two young girls, and what gross evil drove Huntley to such an act. I think demolishing such a place is probably a good thing, but I would sooner see Huntley executed for his crime.

Whever Ulster Unionists start making pompous appeals for "unity" and "no more internal division" you can be certain an election is in the air. Cue David Burnside and his amusing appeal for a "golden silence" until afte the Euro-election. Let's have a little think about this. What Burnside is really saying is that he has no confidence in his Party Leader but he will keep quiet until the Euro-election results give him more ammunition. Is this the martk of a principled politician or an an opportunist. You decide!

"John Kerry continues to insist that he's going to "go after the rich," and we're willing to concede that he's done pretty well thus far. Indeed, his first wife was worth $300 million and his current wife is worth $700 million!" Mais, oui!

>> 1 Apr 2004

The Friday Essay….

THE TROUBLE WITH TRIMBLE….

My erstwhile political colleague Robert McCartney summed up the trouble with Trimble succinctly. “Intelligence and weakness, a fatal combination” Anyone who has spent any day in Trimble’s company would be aware of the accuracy of that comment.

Following on from his seismic triumph last weekend garnering the support of almost 60% of his party’s ruling executive, a number of interesting questions now arise. Why is it that David Trimble continues to command loyalty from a working majority of his Party when his period of leadership is, by all measurable criteria, been abysmal? Is it possible that he can ever be unseated in a party where the status quo is everything? What will the dissatisfied within the ranks do, since by their own analysis, Trimble is leading them to electoral marginalisation? How will the electorate respond to a continued period of Trimble’s stewardship?

I think the curious fact of Trimble’s continued survival is best explained by understanding that the Party over which he presides suffers from advanced political alzheimer’s. Its short-term memory has gone. It is showing little evidence of recognising the massive political problems that afflict it. The brutal truth is that the UUP is in denial of its rejection by the pro-Union electorate. This failure to deal with current reality requires a suspension of certain beliefs from those within the Party and prime amongst these is the idea that the glorious leader that they keep re-electing may in fact have been a complete disaster all along! Trimble’s survival offers the donkey rank and file the opportunity to pat themselves on the back, confident that their judgement has been the right one. What a warm feeling of the political perspicuity that fills the ranks. Or so they imagine.

The other reason that Trimble survives is the sober fact that there is no obvious replacement leader. The notion floated by David Burnside of an Empey/Smyth leadership is risible. It’s not just that Empey is damned through his serial endorsement of Trimble’s’ policies – it’s that he lacks any charisma or courage. If he really wanted to lead the Party but can’t find the guts to say so, then what does that say for his leadership qualities? As for Smythe, whilst he does command respect amongst the broader unionist population, his best days are behind him. Therefore, whither the challenge to Trimble? The Party has haemorrhaged talent, its’ best young people have now all flown the coup. Indeed, If Robert Oliver or John Hoey are the best that Trimble’s critics can come up with – then the Upper Bann MP may have years in front of him as leader! These people are pygmies compared to Trimble.

More interestingly, it is worth considering what will the dissatisfied within the ranks now do? My bet is that they will sit on their hands, bitch in private and do absolutely nothing else. I can’t see mass defections for one very simple reason; anyone still within the Party is so limp and lettuce-like that they are psychologically incapable of leaving Mothership Cunningham House. Their patron saint is Willy Ross – a decent man but utterly wrapped up in the past of a party with no future. They will plot and make mischief for Trimble and will dream of a glorious day when somehow, someway, Trimble will jump and then they might get a chance to do something. When the Euro-result comes in they will complain, and when the next General Election result confirms the virtual eradication of the UUP as a presence at Westminster, they may even try to have another go at Trimble. But they will fail, as they always fail. The biggest political failure of all is Burnside, whose coup de’etat against Trimble was laughable. He has a degree of political smarts but not enough to realise that the Party he is a member of rejects his policies. It is probably best that these strutting incompetents deserve to all within the one party. They are sufficient snobs to consider themselves “above” the DUP and sufficiently stupid not to realise the reverse to be true!

How will the electorate view this renewed period of Trimble’s reign? Well, according to many within the UUP new members are queuing up to join the Party. They also believe that the Earth is flat and Elvis is still alive. I have frequently argued that the Ulster Unionist Party’s real problem is not just Trimble and the ragbag personalities with which he surrounds himself, but rather the serious disconnect with what ordinary unionists want. The UUP strategies are not in situ to capture grass-root unionist sentiment. That is why this June will see Nicholson’s vote suffer. The electorate, by and large, has rumbled Trimble’s policies. They don’t trust him. Gerry Adams may crow “Well Done David” but Mr. Average Unionist thinks “Good bye David.” Luckily, a section of Unionism, which I term Vichy, will support Trimble all the way to oblivion. These are the very people who last Saturday cheered on the Leader who has brought them the worst results in their history. Well done David.

The Ulster Unionist Party has become a political death cult, with Trimble as the high priest seeking to find fulfilment in electoral suicide. I do not believe it can reconnect with the pro-Union electorate in the way that it needs to if it was to have any meaningful future. So Trimble can stay; the rank and file can continue to dream of past glories; and they will continue to fight over why the electorate rejects them. History has passed them by. And that is the real trouble for Trimble.

The eagerly anticipated Cory Report is out and guess what, it's public enquiries all round. Who would have thought this would have been the result? Mmmmmm... bet the lawyers are rubbing their hands. You can't put a price on justice but you sure can get wealthy in the process.

Here's my prescription for raising a smile if all is getting you down. Visit this site, Moveon.org, and you're guaranteed a chuckle at the howls of the extreme left. A great laugh. Wonder if Saddam is a share-holder? Or Yasser? Or Osoma?

Here is a good quote from Ralph Peters, on America's war on terrorism, New York Post, March 26, 2004

"There is nothing we can do to satisfy religion-inspired terrorists. If we do not kill them, they will kill us. The best defense is a strong offense. We cannot wait at home for terrorists to strike. We must not waver from the current policy of taking the war to our enemies. The moment we falter, our enemies will bring the war back to us. Allies are valuable, but they are not indispensable. In the end, we must always do what is necessary, whether or not it is popular abroad. The Islamic world's problems are not our fault, and we are not to blame for terrorism. We cannot force other cultures to be successful, nor can we avoid their jealousy.

Our will must always be stronger than that of our enemies. Otherwise, they'll win, despite our countless advantages. If we cannot maintain the courage for the fight, the terrorists will fill the courage vacuum. The War on Terror is a zero-sum game."

This applies to the IRA, UVF and UDA as well but too many politicians lack the guts to deal with it here.

Good news. Beverley Hughes, the Immigration Minister, has resigned for "unwittingly" misleading people. Perish the thought that one more liar in Labour has got her due desserts!! Wonder if she'll go to Bulgaria for a nice break away from all the stress. I'm sure her passport is in good order.

It's pistols at dawn for the DUP as Sammy Wilson declares that Hugh Orde did not go far enough in exposing the politicalisation of the Judiciary here whilst Jim Allister says he went too far. The UUP were quite right to expose this instance of surprising discordancy from the DUP press machine.

The charisma challenged Michael McGimpsey, in a press release of Herculean fantasy, suggests that the DUP'S most recent converts, Donaldson and Foster, can't get any new recruits to join them from the UUP. Mr. Sunshine claims, in what for me is an example of wishful thinking over reality, "Our own evidence points to a healthy growth in UUP membership across the province and in Lagan Valley alone we had almost 70 new members join since Mr Donaldson`s departure" Sure Michael, and the UUP now stands united with every chance of topping the Euro poll and winning back all those los seats at the next General election. And it don't rain in Inidiana in the summertime.

Congrats to TD John Deasy for smoking in a bar in flagrant disregard of the new law introduced in the Republic this week. Naturally he has been sacked by the right on Kenny who pompously described himself as "furious" at his colleagues actions. In fact, Deasy is a hero, challenging the Irish Nanny State and the stunted activitists who want to control everything we say, do, eat or drink.

The trumpeting of the "unprecedented" letter from the Muslim Council of Britain obscures the fact that the same letter appears to deny that which the Spanish people evidently believe i.e that Islamic Jihadists were involved in the Madrid bombing. It also seems to resile from the sorty of factual headlines reported in the Daily Telegraph about the UK Islamic Jihadists caught in suburbia. Whilst I welcome the fact that the MCB has done something, it falls way short of that which is required. Accepting that some of the Imans in the Mopsque are spreading genocidal hatred would be a better start. What is being done to remove these clerics of hatred?